Computer destined for space sabotaged

The Baltimore Sun

A computer scheduled to be delivered to the International Space Station was sabotaged, possibly by a worker at a Texas subcontractor's plant, although NASA officials said yesterday that the damage would have posed no danger to the station.

Several wires were cut inside the unit and two identical units, said Edmund Memi, a spokesman for Boeing Co., the main contractor for the space station.

The sabotage, which was uncovered over the past week, appears to have occurred in early June, while the devices were still at Invocon Inc., an electronics firm in Conroe, Texas, about 30 miles north of Houston.

"We don't know if it's one or more people," said Kevin Champaigne, an executive at the company. It has about 30 employees.

Two of the computers were known to be working properly in early June, a week before they were delivered to Boeing in Houston, Memi said.

Boeing kept one in storage and sent the other to NASA's Johnson Space Center.

A third computer remained at Invocon. On July 20, after it would not turn on for a software test, the company discovered the clipped wires.

When the other computers were checked, similar damage was found, Memi said.

NASA's inspector general office is investigating. Boeing said it plans to repair the space-bound computer in time for the scheduled Aug. 7 launch of the shuttle Endeavour, which will carry the device to the station.

The computer is part of a new system that collects data on stresses to the space station structure and relays it to mission control on Earth.

"There's been sabotage of some components in the past," said Rich Clifford, deputy manager of the space shuttle program at Boeing and a former astronaut. "Like any other business, there are disgruntled employees."

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